


Why the Suit?

by AnagramRMX



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Modern Art, Poetry, Wooing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-20 20:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9512573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnagramRMX/pseuds/AnagramRMX
Summary: When Ezekiel decided to whisk Jacob off on a surprise date, Jacob didn't know what he was expecting.It wasn't this though.





	

**Author's Note:**

> BC WTF, why did no one bring this back up after Dorian Gray? Ezekiel knows the ‘value’ of art better than Jake, and while he might not know it as well, he knows what makes them valuable, and basic forgery indicators. And also someone on tumblr said at one point that Ezekiel has quoted poetry in cannon before, and it would be cool if Jacob wooed him by being a ridiculous romantic.  
> I would have saved this for Valentine’s Day, but nah. I wanna see if I come up with something even more disgustingly sweet before then.

“You busy?”

Jacob startled slightly, whipping his head up from his book only to roll his eyes when he saw Ezekiel hanging out on the other side of his work table. He couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face, though. That had seemed to be happening more and more often when he saw Ezekiel around.

“Nothing I can’t put off. Whatcha need?”

Ezekiel’s face morphed into a grin. “Well, first I need you to put on a suit.”

What?

“A suit?” he asked blankly. His face must have shown his confusion, because Ezekiel looked even more amused as he moved to lean against the table.

“A suit,” he confirmed. “Preferably the one from that mission where we broke into the Kremlin.”

Jacob looked at him for a few moments, still confused, before deciding he might as well go along with it. Even if this was one of Ezekiel’s jokes, he was fairly certain they had moved past any deliberately malicious behavior.

At least, he hoped so.

A year ago, when Eve and Flynn had been trapped in Jacobean England, things at the library had been stressful, and in their mutual grief, Jacob had found that even if Ezekiel didn’t like reading, he was okay with poetry. For that week, they had spent any quiet moments together with Ezekiel curled up nearby, just listening to the lines of remorseful and loving poetry Jacob could quote in Eve’s name.

It had lightened up a little after they’d gotten their Guardian back, but he had still taken every chance he could to leave his favorites for Ezekiel to find, or to recite the funny ones if he had a moment. It was honestly the best part of his day if he managed to get Ezekiel to laugh, or on one occasion, snort coffee out his nose.

He stood up and started putting away his books. “Can I ask why?”

“Honestly, because it made your ass look amazing.”

Jacob tripped walking back, and his surprised expression made Ezekiel laugh at him.

“C’mon, cowboy, I’m taking you out on a date.”

“A date?” Jacob asked, smiling as he started to straighten himself back up, and quietly kicking himself for acting like such a nerd about it. So what if he’d been thinking about asking Ezekiel out for weeks now? He didn’t have to act like a goddamn teenager if his wish was coming true.

Ezekiel almost snorted. “Yeah, a date,” he said. “What did you think was going to happen when you started leaving love poetry in my pockets?”

That was fair.

Even if he had started with poetry about mourning, and then moved on to the humorous and the epics, he’d gotten a little braver in the last few months. He had left love poetry laying around for Ezekiel. Byron and Shakespeare were never a bad idea. And Ezekiel seemed to like it.

Actually, Ezekiel had started flirting outrageously in response.

This was obviously the end game.

Jacob grinned a little, and didn’t hide his fist pump as Ezekiel started strutting back towards the Annex. He was way past acting like a goddamn teenager anyway. He was going on a date with Ezekiel, and he was being a full-on sap about it. He was kind of okay with that.

He followed Ezekiel into the Annex, splitting off once they reached the Library’s wardrobe room to change into the aforementioned suit, regretting briefly that Ezekiel hadn’t given him the chance to think of anything romantic to do before he left. His momma would’ve ripped him a new one for showing up at a girl’s house without at least a carnation before they went out. Ezekiel was probably not into flowers, but it was the thought that counted, right? Maybe he could have found a really difficult lock to crack.

It didn’t exactly matter. He did have time, so he settled for looking decent before he walked back out to the Annex.

Ezekiel was waiting for him near the door, looking classy in his own three piece suit. Jacob looked over him appreciatively, and felt his heart start pounding a little faster when he saw the genuine smile on Ezekiel’s face. “Where’re we going?” he asked.

The answer turned out to be New York City, where Ezekiel grabbed his hand and pulled him down the street to…

A pizza parlor.

Jacob didn’t get it, but he grinned as they took their seats.

Sure, he hadn’t been sure what to expect from Ezekiel on a date, but this made sense. Pizza was Ezekiel’s favorite, and it was so casual, Jacob might not have even thought they were on a date, if they hadn’t playfully started knocking their knees together under the table fifteen minutes in. And that wasn’t a bad thing. There was no pressure.

That didn’t mean that there wasn’t any romance. Jacob did whip out a few lines of Byron, and Ezekiel held his hand right up until their order arrived. There were a few quiet moments as they sat there were they locked eyes, and Jacob just felt like this was right.

The only thing he might have complained about was the suit.

Seriously, why did he need to wear a suit to go eat pizza?

He was going to get grease on it. Jones might be the epitome of grace, but Jake still had to stop himself from wiping his hands on his trousers. His jeans had always been dusty and grimy anyway. But ruining the suit was something that he could not abide. Especially if Ezekiel seemed to like it so much.

It wasn’t until they were walking out the door that Jacob asked. Ezekiel winked at him. “For my viewing pleasure, of course,” he teased. “I mean, as much as I like your company, putting you in a suit…” he trailed off, raising his eyebrows appreciatively.

Jacob laughed. “I’ll have to find a reason to wear it more often, I guess.”

“Please do.”

They started down the street again, but in the opposite direction from where the Backdoor had deposited them. Jacob wondered where they were going next, and started looking around as they walked. The few times they had been in NYC, he’d looked into some of the museums, but they weren’t super close to any of the major ones.

When he saw a street sign, something in the back of his mind started niggling at him, like he should know where they were going. The look on Ezekiel’s face suggested that he was enjoying Jacob trying to figure it out, though, and he was that much more determined to come up with some guess.

But he was still blank as they followed Canal Street.

Right up until he saw an awning on the side of a tall modern building, with a sign and velvet ropes in front of the door.

His face lit up.

“Whitney Small’s Gallery opening?” he asked breathlessly.

“Yep,” Ezekiel said with a smile. “And it was _mostly_ legit. I asked as the secretary of James McKelvie and they didn’t even ask questions before putting you on the guest list.” He tugged at his lapels smugly. “And his lovely date Jon Wright, of course.”

Jacob slung an arm over Ezekiel’s shoulder and didn’t hesitate to press a kiss to his cheek. “You’re fucking amazing,” he cheered, pulling him along towards the gallery, almost missing the dopey smile on Ezekiel’s face.

He calmed himself slightly as they got to the door, putting on the composure of a man who regularly attended these kinds of functions and was prepared for what laid inside. McKelvie was the only of his aliases that specialized in modern history, focusing heavily on culture and it’s influence on art, and also learning about modern war in the process. It wasn’t his favorite time period, but the amount of change in one period was fascinating-even keeping up with modern art today…

“Excuse me,” he said to the greeter in front of the rope. “James McKelvie?”

The woman lit up. “I’m glad to see you made it, Dr. McKelvie,” she said, unlatching the rope. She nodded at Ezekiel as well. “Mr. Wright.”

Ezekiel grinned at her. “Martha! Nice to meet you in person.”

“You as well-although I have to warn you, Ada Wilson’s already arrived, so you’re going to have to look sharp.”

Ezekiel rolled his eyes. “Of course she is.” He shook his head as he walked inside, arm linked with Jacob’s.

Jacob’s brow furrowed. “Martha?” he asked curiously.

“I said they didn’t ask any questions about you. They did ask questions about me, and once I told her I was an appraiser, Martha had a lot to say about my colleagues, and it kind of spiraled. But we both hate Wilson, so now we follow each other on twitter and talk shit.”

“…You have a twitter account for your fake identity?”

“You don’t?” Ezekiel asked before wincing. “Stupid question. You don’t even have your own twitter account.”

He laughed when Jacob elbowed him.

Jacob looked around the room excitedly. The collection was sizeable, most of it containing new, original work that was being showcased, most of it mixed media. The curator had also included a number of pieces that had strongly influenced this particular set of work, though. Before Jacob even thought about it, he had grabbed Ezekiel’s hand and pulled him over to a large bronze piece on that side of the room.

He started babbling about the sculpture without much thought, excited about the time period it was built in and how it had influenced Small’s work before. They were already on their third piece before Jacob thought to be embarrassed about his enthusiasm, or to at least be ashamed he’d taken over the conversation for so long.

But, when he turned to Ezekiel, to pay attention to him this time instead of just to talk at him, Ezekiel didn’t look bothered in the slightest. He actually seemed to be enjoying how excited Jacob was, and by the way he was looking thoughtfully at the piece Jacob had been explaining to him, the info-dump wasn’t a problem either.

Jacob didn’t even pretend that he wasn’t happy about that. Being out with someone who he could share his interests and passions with was better than anything he’d thought to dream of for himself, especially if that someone was Ezekiel.

That said, he did want to be a gentleman. It was their first date, so Jacob asked what Ezekiel wanted to look at next, or if he wanted to grab something from the refreshments table.

Ezekiel just grinned, and lead Jacob over to another piece of art.

This time it was a portrait, a collage of a woman’s face made up of various pieces of newspaper so that headlines from the previous year were stamped over her forehead.

“What do you think about this one?” Ezekiel asked.

Jacob looked at it for a bit and gave his technical analysis of it. He liked it well enough, but after he gave Ezekiel an opening, he seemed to have plenty of opinions on not only this piece, but also its relationship to the series that preceded it and the problem with the way it was being displayed.

Apparently, Ezekiel had decided that the lack of security measures and terrible lighting around the piece showed that Smalls didn’t really care about it, and that she shouldn’t have included it just because this style had done well in her previous exhibitions.

Jacob hadn’t noticed that until now. He had realized that the light was different here, and that this display didn’t share many qualities with the others, but he hadn’t put those pieces together yet. He surely wouldn’t have thought Ezekiel had.

It surprised him a little, although in hindsight, it really shouldn’t have. Ezekiel might not have had the depth of understanding on technique that Jacob did, but he had been stealing fine art for years. He knew the big names in the art world, and the worth of their art, and often what had made them valuable in the first place.

Still, it made Jacob grin, and he started needling Ezekiel just like always, challenging his assessment as though all of those factors had been deliberate. Ezekiel, though still amused, rose to the challenge and started to indignantly defend his position.

Their debate led them to crossing the gallery multiple times, checking out different displays and finding something new to discuss about the style.

Jacob didn’t realize that they had drawn anyone’s attention until a woman walked over and joined the conversation, firmly on Ezekiel’s side of the present argument on whether or not the shine the glaze was giving off was a problem or not. Eventually, she asked, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your names, Mr…”

“Mr. Wright,” Ezekiel said, introducing himself smoothly before he tucked his arm in Jacobs and added, “And my companion Dr. James McKelvie.”

The woman paused, her face going bright red all of a sudden, and Jacob started getting nervous. He hadn’t even remembered that he was supposed to be one of his alter-egos until now. Had he insulted something this woman had written? He had done that before…

Instead, she eventually grasped his hand and said, “Dr. McKelvie-I didn’t realize! It’s such a pleasure to meet you in person.”

Jacob tried to keep his wits about him, “Ah-I’m sorry, have we met before?”

“Not exactly, or, not formally I guess?” she said. “I’m Anne Waldrip. I sent you an email with a few questions when I was writing my master’s thesis. I was going to do an analysis on Pollock-“

“-but that was a cop-out,” Jacob finished, starting to grin, a little relieved. “I remember you now! I was really glad you went with Klee instead.”

Anne actually squealed a little. “Me too! Once I dug a little deeper into his other work, I really preferred the topic and researching for that period took me down so many rabbit holes I made it the subject of a long-term project on pre-war European modern art.”

“I think I heard something about that…”

It was only a few minutes before Anne ran off to get one of her colleagues from NYU, both excited to see one of the experts in their field. At this point, Jacob was about ready to dance on air. Between the open admiration for his work and having Ezekiel on his arm, this night felt like it couldn’t get much better.

Or at least, he thought so, because when he turned and looked at Ezekiel, the thief was looking at him with a soft smile, and the slightest look of admiration and pride in his eyes, and Jacob felt warm as their eyes met.

“Enjoying being the smartest man in the room?”

Jacob just smiled. “Not nearly as much as I’m enjoying being here with you.”

(-:-)

As the party started to dwindle down, Ezekiel caught Jacob’s hand and started tugging him towards the door. Even though Jacob was still having a good time, he said his goodbyes, happy to spend any time alone with Ezekiel that he could.

They chatted quietly about some of the paintings as they walked down the street. Jacob took his first opportunity to sling an arm back over Ezekiel’s shoulder and pull him close, and Ezekiel started on a story about his misadventures as a young thief, trying to find a buyer when he had managed to steal a Rubens.

Jacob almost didn’t realize Ezekiel was tugging him somewhere else, until they found themselves in NYC’s High Line Park.

Despite being in the City, the former rail line was mostly empty at this time of the evening, only scattered with a few other people as they walked through the modern gardens. As they walked along the path, Jacob talked a little about the art and architecture they saw, but a few minutes down the walk, he looked over and saw Ezekiel smiling at him.

He stopped walking, and dropped his arm so that he could hold Ezekiel’s hand, pulling themselves so that they were facing each other.

“Hey, tonight has been Amazing, Ezekiel. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but thank you.”

Ezekiel just smiled a little wider, and held Jacob’s gaze when he said. “You deserved it.”

Jacob let out a little laugh, and looked at the ground, only to be surprised when Ezekiel pulled a little closer and squeezed his hand. “Hey, I mean that.”

As Jacob looked back up, Ezekiel let go, and pulled back pulling out his wallet, and a few slips of paper that he had been keeping in there. He coughed, and started reading off of one of them, “ _I Love you without knowing how, or when or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride, so I love you because I know no other way than this: where I does not exist, nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep._ ”

Jacob felt his face warm a little. He recognized the poem as Neruda, and the paper in Ezekiel’s hand as one Jacob had written to him a few days ago. Just by looking into the wallet, Jacob could see that there was more than one. Ezekiel had kept them. It made his heart twist up proudly, and he pulled himself closer into Ezekiel’s space.

The thief looked up and smiled. “ _Love me or hate me, both are in my favor, if you love me, I’ll always be in your heart, if you hate me, I’ll always be in your mind._ ”

That one was older, after one of their arguments, and Jacob didn’t know how to apologize. He swallowed hard as he met Ezekiel’s gaze again, and Ezekiel spoke on his own.

“I know I make a big deal about being awesome, and I am pretty great, but no one’s really taken the time to court me, I guess.” He shrugged, slipping the notes back away, and pulling Jacob so that they were holding both hands. “I don’t normally get to be close to people, so when they show interest, it’s always like I’m more of a good time than a person to them. You make me feel like you want me, no matter how frustrated we make each other, and it means a lot to me.”

He paused to pull up one of Jacob’s hands, and kissing his knuckles. “More importantly, I know that you haven’t gotten that either, Mr. I’m-From-Oklahoma. You’ve always had to be the romantic one instead of the one romanced, and it would be my pleasure to be the one to provide that.”

Jacob felt himself start to smile. He couldn’t think of anything to say, or quote, and just wished he had a way to show him how much he appreciated it. So instead, he went with the classics, and put a hand on one side of Ezekiel’s face, pulling him close and kissing him.

Ezekiel dropped his other hand, pulling him closer by the front of his jacket, and letting out a little whine that made all of Jacob’s nerves light on fire. Poetry was just the start, he thought. If Ezekiel liked being told he was loved, Jacob wanted nothing more than to prove it to him again and again and again.

They broke apart after a moment, and Jacob closed his eyes, just taking a moment and enjoying being close with Ezekiel.

“You are unbelievable,” he breathed, appreciating every moment of this wonderfully unexpected night.

Ezekiel let out a little laugh. “ _Doubt the stars are fire; Doubt the sun doth move; doubt the truth to be a liar; but never doubt I love._ ”

Jacob felt his face pull into a wide grin, and he lost himself in another kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> and yes, Ezekiel definitely intended to be Jacob’s Mr. Right ;)  
> The Poem’s Ezekiel quotes are Neruda’s Sonnet XVII (love you without knowing how), Hamlet (Doubt thou…), and a quote where the source is disputed, but I kind of love it anyway because it works for these boys (Love me or hate me)  
> I tried doing some research into modern art so I could actually write dialogue for the part where they were in the gallery, but I still didn’t feel comfortable discussing it when I’m not that familiar with artistic merit or techniques, and I don’t really like modern art that much anyway. I literally sat with a book on famous artists open while I was writing the discussion with Anne. That said, the bronze statue was supposed to be one of the castings of Jasper John’s Three Flags, Paul Klee is a real dude, and because I adore mixed media art, that’s what Smalls’ primary technique was. Additionally, you should look up the “World’s Finest” series by Vincent Valdez. I saw one of the pieces in a museum a few weeks ago and I’m kind of obsessed with it ATM.  
> The High Line is the prettiest sidewalk you will ever walk on. It’s a two-mile-long, 30-to-50-foot-wide park in NYC built on top of a retired train line in southern Manhattan, on which they added a lot of modern landscaping. I mean, the politics involving it are a little weird because of the way it promoted a ridiculous class divide in the surrounding area, but it’s really pretty and a very interesting method of repurposing industrial space.  
> And do not worry-Jacob, despite his inability to get into clubs, planned a more adventurous date in Rio a few weeks later, specifically because he knew Ezekiel would enjoy it. They ended up soaking wet and covered in glitter at different points in the night, jumped off someone’s roof, and almost fell asleep holding hands on their ride back to the Backdoor. That might be another fic for later.


End file.
